While sales of hybrid vehicles have taken a beating as gasoline prices have fallen and companies working in the space have struggled, automotive supplier Denso Corp. sees hybrid technology as an area of growth.

The Japanese giant employs about 3,500 workers in Michigan. Denso International America Inc. is headquartered in Southfield, where it maintains sales and administrative offices and a large technical center. The company also makes air conditioning units and radiators at a plant in Battle Creek and air conditioning compressors at a factory in Jackson.

The company sees hybrid technology as a natural progression from its expertise in thermal and air conditioning systems, said Terry Helgesen, senior vice president of marketing. Denso so far has done work in areas such as electric compressors, invertors and power electronics for motors but is allocating more engineering work to examine ways cool batteries that power hybrid vehicles.

"The hybridization we think is a bigger trend and we're going to be doing more in the future," Helgesen told me recently during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Helgesen also feels the technology holds an advantage in North America over clean-diesel technology despite its often hefty price premiums. German automakers like Audi are introducing new diesel models in the U.S. that boast impressive fuel economy and low emissions.

"There's two issues," Helgesen said. "One, diesel prices are a buck a gallon or more. That's an impediment. And some of the emission rules or laws in the United States are much more stringent than they are in Europe. So there's a bigger cost for the system, especially aftertreatment.

"So it creates extra barriers for cost... we think that helps the hybrid be a little more efficient."

Denso isn't the only supplier banking on hybrid technology. Financially struggling Lear Corp. is also banking on putting its work in electronics to work in the space.

But in a shrunken (shrinking?) U.S. marketplace, and with gas prices low, can both hybrid and clean-diesel technology succeed?